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I did something crazy. Actually, WE did something crazy. My little family trio took a trip back to Japan this past July. Everyone told us we were idiots crazy for vacationing anywhere in Asia during the summer months. The weather anywhere in Asia is both hotter than the 7th circle of hell, & more humid than a sweaty ass crack in a Scandinavian sauna. I’m not even exaggerating, not even a little bit.
We went on a summer holiday to Osaka. July was the only time available between our little bean finishing preschool and the start of kindergarten at her new elementary school. I tried to plan ahead & bought a portable clip-on fan for us to use on the days it was overbearing hot, but that fan didn’t quite cut it, especially for 3 people to take turns. Sure, it worked well, & as advertised, but to truly beat the heat (the humidity was tolerable), we needed a stronger & larger fan.
Towards the end of our 2 week trip, I caved & bought a bigger handheld electric fan, one that I saw every other woman using or buying. Why didn’t I buy this fan at the beginning of our trip you might be wondering. Well, first of all, I wanted to justify buying the little clip-on one & not have Jian complain that it was a wasted purchase.
Next, we weren’t outside very often. Our hotel was connected to the main subway station & all of the nearby shopping malls/department stores (of which there were many). So we very much utilized all of the underground passageways and tunnel connectors between all of the buildings, & when we weren’t riding the nicely air conditioned subway, we were taking taxis. We made sure to walk outside as little as possible to stay out of the heat.
Lastly, we were so lucky to be in Osaka, which is near the bay, so there was plenty of breeze/wind to circulate the air & made the overall weather more tolerable. (Sorry, Tokyo.) The only time we got pummeled by the heat was on the day we traveled to nearby Nara so our little bean could say her prayers to the extra large Buddha at Toda-ji temple & feed the deer. (FYI, we are a Buddhist family, but we don’t strictly adhere to all of the spiritual teachings.)
At the end of our trip, we used the fan a couple of times, & I felt foolish for buying it, thinking that once we got home I’d have no other use for it other than the 2-3 week Indian Summer we get in the Bay Area at the end of September. Boy, was I wrong. So very wrong. I have been using his handheld electric fan almost every day since I’ve gotten back home.
I mostly use this fan at night after showering (we are a nighttime shower family). Other times I will use it throughout the day. I don’t know if it’s because I am going through what I think it might be for a woman roughly my age (perimenopause), or if I am just hot from the shower or doing strenuous manual labor, but I feel like I am experiencing hot flashes & need to use the fan quite often. This fan has been an incredibly useful tool.
My little bean tends to get hot when she sleeps, so often times when she co-sleeps with me, I will set the fan on its stand on my nightstand & turn it on for a few minutes to circulate the air around the room, while cooling down my little bean so she can have a restful night’s sleep. I also use the fan to cool down hot food sometimes.
The handheld fan comes with a stand that can also connect to a USB-C charging cable, or it can be charged without the stand. I am so glad I bought this handheld fan, & I am even more happy that I have found multiple uses for it, so I consider this purchase a success. Here are a few photos of the fan, in the exact color that I purchased:
Until the next post, cheers!
Song of the day:
I have dreams involving my dad from time to time. When I do, I take them seriously. You see, I firmly believe in the idea that people who have passed on can communicate through dreams. This may not actually be true, but I believe in it nonetheless because it gives me a little piece-of-mind. It helps me to believe that deceased loved ones are trying to send messages to the living.
I don’t talk to my mom much about my dreams involving my dad. I can sense that when I do talk about those dreams, it brings back feelings & emotions my mom is still trying to process, even after 14 years. Sometimes, it hits me like a ton of bricks that my dad just sent me a message through a dream, & I am completely stunned, amazed, or sometimes confused. But I cherish those dreams even when I don’t understand their meaning.
So, last night I had a very strange, yet very comforting dream that my dad was playing with my 5-year old daughter in the backyard of our home. He kept leaving the side gates that lead to the front of our house open, so my little bean could run around the entire circumference of our house. However, I kept closing the gate and complaining that my little bean should only be playing in the backyard so we could keep an eye on her. Every time I would close the gate, he would keep it open.
In my dream, my dad was laughing while playing with my little bean, who was also having a great time with her grandpa (one she knows about but never met). Then my dream jumps to us being inside the house. My mom & Jian are also in my dream, but they are not as relevant to the story of my dream. My dad is standing with me in our living room, but the tone changes, & suddenly I am thinking, in my dream, that somehow my dad seems not quite himself after being away for 3 months.
Why was he away for specifically 3 MONTHS? I do not know, but this is one of the details that really stood out to me. My dad seemed a little like a stranger in his own home. All of a sudden he was looking at me as though he recognized me but didn’t at the same time. That’s the part of the dream that confuses me. He went from being completely happy in being at home with his family, especially with his granddaughter. Then in a snap of the fingers, he seemed off & a little unfamiliar in his own environment.
Now, I have got to tell you. Im almost all of my past dreams involving my dad, there have been very clear messages being sent, whether it was directed at me, or a message to my mom through me. I don’t quite know what to make of this message, if there even was one. At least in the first half of the dream, I understand that my dad was super excited & happy to play with his granddaughter & be with her. It’s the second part of the dream that freaks me out a little because I don’t want to interpret that part of the dream as my dad feeling like a stranger in his own home. What does it all mean? I’m kind of scared to find out. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
I hate folding my underwear every time I do my laundry. After chipping away at the mountain that is Jian’s endless amount of graphic tees & technical knitted socks, then attacking my little bean’s pile of kids leggings & t-shirts, I finally arrive at my modest (& I’m not exaggerating) set of clothes.W
hen folding all the clean laundry, I save the washing bags for last., so I can sit down, dump everything on my bed, & mindlessly fold while I’m watching something on TV. Just in case you were wondering, I use washing bags for all the delicate clothes (ie. things with embroidery, rhinestones, glittery embellishments) & my undergarments. I used to put my little bean’s baby clothes in washing bags, but I’ve gotten lazy & don’t do that anymore.
Getting back on track, I hate folding women’s underwear! Why do guys have it so easy. I mean, briefs, boxers, boxer-briefs…they’re so easy & effortless to fold! Plus, they fold neatly into nice squares. Try folding ladies panties into little squares, & it feels like you need a level 10 origami folder’s skills. I’m not just talking about all those stringy Agent Provocateur contraptions. It’s also ladies briefs & regular undies as well. They’re all just a pain in the ass to fold!
Every time I wash my underthings, they always come out a wrinkled, balled-up mess. Unless you want to iron each one, it’s so hard to smooth out all of the creased up seams that just refuse to lay flat. Then you gotta figure out a way to fold them in a way that won’t fall apart when you try stuffing them into an already full drawer.
I am not even going to get into the various shapes & underwear contraptions in this post. Now this is not to say I don’t have a few of these origami shapes myself. I do. At least I haven’t resorted to wearing “granny panties”. I still wear cute, semi-spicy undies in varying degrees of lace-to-cotton. I just hate folding them after washing them.
No, I will not forgo wearing them altogether just to skip out on folding anything at all. That is out of the question! Thus ending my rant. That is all. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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